IAB News Release

Native health research program opens Bethel clinic

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Alaska Native Health Research will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new clinical research facility at the Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel May 3 at 4 p.m.

The 1,378-square foot research space will have rooms for long-distance teleconferencing, physical activity measurements, and nutritional data collection, among other uses. The Bethel facility has a mirror site at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, also operated by CANHR.

The National Institutes of Health provided a $7.5 million grant to UAF in order to create the new spaces. About $3.8 million was used to build the Bethel facility.

“The new research suites show how much we value our relationships with research participants, whom we view as our research partners,” said Bert Boyer, CANHR director. “It is further proof of our commitment to work together toward elimination of health disparities among Alaska Native people.”

CANHR is part of UAF’s Institute of Arctic Biology. Its investigators study obesity, nutrient and contaminant levels in subsistence foods, stress and coping, cancer, and substance abuse and suicide intervention and prevention. Over the past ten years, much of CANHR’s research has been in the Yukon Kuskokwim delta.

“The new facility will provide a physical space where Alaska Native people may go to help find solutions to many of the health problems our people face,” said Mary Pete, director of the Kuskokwim Campus. “This means so much to our people.”

UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers will join Boyer and Pete for the ceremony. Refreshments will follow. The public is invited to attend. Contact Diana Campbell, 907-474-5221 or dlcampbell@alaska.edu to RSVP.

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Media Contact

Diana Campbell
Communications Specialist

Center for Alaska Native Health Research
Institute of Arctic Biology
212A Arctic Health Research Building
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775